Screening of Periodontitis by Combining Questionnaires and Salivary Hemoglobin

Objectives: This study was conducted to validate the capability of a new method for screening the periodontal disease by using the combined model incorporating the salivary hemoglobin level test, which is the non-invasive procedure, age, which is the demographic characteristics and the objective indicator, and self-reported questionnaires on periodontal diseases, which is the subjective indicator, and determine whether the method can substitute the conventional community periodontal index (CPI) measurement.
Methods: The subjects of this study were 204 adult men and women (mean age: 49.5±29.5) who visited Yonsei University, College of Dentistry, and Seoul, Korea. CPI was selected as a gold standard. In addition, the logistic regression analysis was conducted in relation to significant correlation with CPI index and each indicator. The area under the ROC curves (AUCs), sensitivity (sen), and specificity (spec) were yielded for confirming the validity of self-report questionnaire (model 1), salivary hemoglobin level (model 2), and a combination of salivary hemoglobin level, self-report questionnaire, and age (model 3) in predicting the prevalence of CPI 3+4 or CPI 4.
Results: In the model 1, the areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of the self-report questionnaire were 0.72 (sen: 77.8% and spec: 57.1%) and 0.76 (sen: 63.8% and spec: 78.2%) for predicting the prevalence of CPI 3+4 and CPI 4. In the mode 2, the results of CPI 3+4 or CPI4 showed the ROC curve of 0.64 (sen: 5% and spec: 52.5%) and 0.7 (sen: 63.6% and spec: 71.2%), respectively. The most useful prediction models for CPI 3+4 or CPI 4 was model 3, which yielded AUCs of 0.75 and 0.78 with sensitivity of 88%, 75.6% and specificity of 50%, 70.2%.
Conclusions: The combined predictive model (model 3) demonstrated screening potential that could predict the population prevalence of CPI 3+4 or CPI 4.